Post # 1
Member
53 posts
Worker bee
Sorry if this post is in the wrong spot, I wasn’t exactly sure where to put it. I’m having a lot of trouble deciding when our wedding ceremony and reception should be. Right now, we’ve booked our venue for a Sunday, with the ceremony slated to begin at 3:00 pm. But now I’m thinking that that’s a bit late for a Sunday – I don’t want people having to drive home too late that day since most of them will have to work on Monday. (We chose Sunday due to venue constraints.) I don’t want to have the ceremony too early, either, one because I’m not a morning person lol, and I don’t want people having to get up too early to get there. Several of our family members will be driving ~3 hours to get there, and about half the guests will be driving ~1 hour.
Would 1:00/1:30 be a better time? The ceremony probably won’t last longer than 30 minutes, and then we’re going straight into the reception. I’m going to have guests go ahead and start eating while the wedding party, Fiance and I take a few pictures, then join everyone. There will be some board games and maybe a couple other activities (photo booth, maybe a raffle or a pinata). I have 3 hours scheduled for the reception, then 1 hour of clean-up, so if we started the reception at 1:30 or 2:00, it would be over well before 6:00 and people could get home at a decent hour.
(I’m also trying to figure out what to feed my guests, but that depends very much on what time of day the ceremony/reception will be held…)
Should I change the ceremony start time, or leave it as-is?
Post # 3
Member
285 posts
Helper bee
We got married on a Sunday and the timeline was as follows:
3:00pm – Guests arrive
3:30pm – Ceremony
4-5:00pm – Cocktail Hour
5-9pm – Reception
It was perfect!! Everything was beautiful, we got great pics (I’ll be posting a recap soon :)) and everyone enjoyed themselves. I should also note that I had the same concern about being a Sunday night, AND our venue was about 49 mins out of the city where we live, but people still said it was perfect, and even though it was a Sunday night and they had been partying, they still got to bed at a reasonable time!
Hope this helps!
Post # 4
Member
13946 posts
Honey Beekeeper
I’d go for the 1/130 range. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t attend a Sunday wedding if I had to drive 3 hours and couldn’t arrange the next day off from work easily. But if you make it early enough in the day to allow for driving home, more people are likely to try to attend.
I would also recommend a hotel block, because I wouldn’t drive a total of 6 hours a day for just anyone’s wedding.
Post # 5
Member
7308 posts
Busy Beekeeper
- Wedding: October 2011 - Bed & Breakfast
If I am driving 3 hours to attend, I’m getting there on Saturday and staying overnight. So a 1:30 or 2pm start time would be good, as that would wrap things up early enough for me to drive home at a decent hour.
Post # 6
Member
38 posts
Newbee
I think 1-1:30 PM. You could serve brunch food. I love brunch.
Post # 7
Member
6105 posts
Bee Keeper
I have to get up at 5:30 for my job so assuming I would only be driving an hour (shit, I drive that each way to work so no biggie) I think having it end at 8:30-9pm would be perfect.
Post # 8
Member
115 posts
Blushing bee
I just got married on a Sunday in December. We did 4:30 Ceremony, 5-10 Reception. Almost everyone was within a 2 hour drive. Out of 90 invites, we had 66 RSVP yes and 56 attend. The 10 that did not had a good reason though, we got over 4 inches of snow and they physically couldn’t get there. Almost everyone stayed until at least 9:30 with most staying until 10. No one complained (at least to my face) about having to work the next day and everyone seemed to have a good time.
Good luck with your planning!
Post # 9
Member
107 posts
Blushing bee
I’m getting married on a Sunday and its from 5:30-11, granted I live in NYC and so do most of our guests so a late start doesn’t impact us
Post # 10
Member
107 posts
Blushing bee
I’m getting married on a Sunday and its from 5:30-11, granted I live in NYC and so do most of our guests so a late start doesn’t impact us
Post # 11
Member
53 posts
Worker bee
I talked everything over with my matron of honor, and we’ve decided 1:00 would be a good time – not too early, not too late – and with a 3-hour reception from 1:30 – 4:30 that would leave plenty of time for people to get home and relax before work on Monday. Also, I would get to spend the evening with hubby, and wouldn’t have to get up at the absolute crack of dawn that morning. Win-win! 😀
Post # 12
Member
161 posts
Blushing bee
@cassclaw: Fiance and I are having a Sunday brunch reception. Our wedding starts at 10:30am and reception lasts from 11-3. It’s perfect for us!
Post # 13
Member
8469 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
@cassclaw: Sounds great!
Ours was a Sunday, but the longest anyone had to drive was an hour, and that family ended up staying over anyway. We did the 5-10 time frame. It was either that or 7-12!
Post # 14
Member
5062 posts
Bee Keeper
I’m having a Sunday wedding starting at 3pm.
Post # 15
Member
546 posts
Busy bee
@coffeeloverbee: Ours was very similar to this.
Sunday ceremony was at 4, went straight into reception with dinner at 5:15. Ours was slightly easier because the wedding was local for almost everyone but I think your 3:00 time is fine. If you’re really worried about people traveling I would do earlier around 1.